unemployment, job growth, Black men — Image: Pexels

by Daniel Johnson

March 8, 2025

Black Men See Job Growth In February Amid Uncertain Economic Landscape

However, the overall unemployment rate ticked up from 4% to 4.1%.

In a reversal of general unemployment trends, for February, the unemployment rate for Black men over 20 years old plunged to 5.5% from its 6.9% rate in January, while the overall unemployment rate ticked up from 4% to 4.1%.

According to CNBC, the jobless rate for Black workers overall dropped from 6.2% in January to 6% in February. Although Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, indicated that the full effect of the government layoffs is not yet reflected in the data and that unemployment numbers are generally volatile from one month to the next, the positive numbers for Black men cannot be ignored.

“It’s the calm before the storm,” Gould told CNBC. “We’re not seeing the layoffs in the data yet, for the most part. You see a fair amount of volatility month-to-month. It’s a little hard to ignore the huge drop in the unemployment rate for Black men…that’s a positive indication.”

According to Rick Rieder, the chief investment officer of global income at BlackRock, the payrolls report from the reS. Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting survey has a “load of footnotes.”

Rieder continued, “For instance, the reporting survey was conducted following a period of significant job displacement in California related to the wildfires and other adverse weather conditions around the U.S., in the midst of a changing immigration picture, more labor strikes, and the beginning of the impact of DOGE on federal government employment.”

Although the data does not break down jobs held by ethnicity, it does indicate that healthcare and social assistance, financial activities, construction, transportation and warehousing, and government are the highest positive net change jobs from January to February, a further indication that the cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency are not included in the data yet.

According to Reuters, the data indicates that cracks in the labor market are beginning to show thanks to the chaos introduced by the Trump administration’s trade policy and federal spending cuts, which have marked Donald Trump’s first month in office.

According to its reporting, the share of American workers holding more than one job is the highest it’s been since the Great Recession. Economists indicated that unpredictable trade policy makes it difficult for businesses to plan ahead, reflected in the slowed rate of hiring in the private sector.

Among private sector jobs, those companies only added 77,000 jobs in February.

According to a report from payroll processing firm ADP, which was released in advance of the BLS report, those numbers are well off the pace of the 186,000 jobs projected to be added in January and the 148,000 jobs that the Dow Jones estimate projected.

According to Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, employers are hesitant to increase hiring as they wait for the economic landscape post-tariffs to become clear.

“Policy uncertainty and a slowdown in consumer spending might have led to layoffs or a slowdown in hiring last month. Our data, combined with other recent indicators, suggests a hiring hesitancy among employers as they assess the economic climate ahead,” Richardson told CNBC.

protest, Portland, racial slur, Catholic school — (Photo: Tero Vesalainen/Getty Images)

by Mary Spiller

March 8, 2025

Black-Owned Baltimore Bookstore Targeted By Racist Harassment

Owner Tia Hamilton has been receiving threatening racist messages on Urban Reads' social media accounts.

The owner of Urban Reads Bookstore in Baltimore, Tia Hamilton, told CBS News that her shop has been intimidated and targeted by progressively worsening racial harassment on online forums.

Since its founding in 2019, Hamilton has used Urban Reads to promote literacy and uplift the Black community. In her magazine, State vs. Us, Hamilton discusses mass incarceration and systemic racism, highlighting the voices of those who have been wrongfully incarcerated in her pieces.

She believes that her advocacy has made her a target for racist threats to Urban Reads.

On her Instagram, Hamilton posted a series of screenshots documenting the disturbing social media threats to bring awareness to Urban Reads’ plight. However, the severity has been getting worse, and it’s taken a toll on Hamilton’s mental health.

She said, “I still haven’t really eaten, you know, and I’m barely sleeping…I’m angry, and I’m angry because this is a faceless enemy. “I’ve always gotten threats, but things really started up on the 20th [of February].”

After Feb. 20, Hamilton explained that she began receiving disturbing online messages through State vs. Us‘s Facebook page. Threats also began appearing on other social media accounts for Urban Reads.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DG6KkXcRMgB/?igsh=cXpqZXQ4bjFhaTlk

Hamilton said, “We’re really supposed to be coming together — but instead their hate runs so deep that they want to hate me.”

It eventually became so severe that Hamilton contacted the city of Baltimore, including Mayor Brandon Scott. She additionally posted on Instagram, calling for men and volunteers to help protect her store.

The local advocacy group — The Tendea Family — stepped in to help her. The group, founded by Elijah Miles, sent several men to guard Urban Reads following the threats.

The Black community group’s goal is “to protect women, children, and elders, to stop the violence, to save the youth, to shift the culture, to rebuild this commUNITY!”

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGyu4VeBmpJ/?igsh=MTNzbXQ2ZXF4MmdzNw==

Other members of the Baltimore community have rallied around Hamilton. Baltimore City Councilwoman Odette Ramos announced that the incident is being investigated as a hate crime.

Ramos told news outlets, “I feared for her safety. We’re going to have to find a way that there are more protocols and ways that these things can be measured. I think this is going to grow. When something like this happens, we feel that kind of pride in our city is being tested. We’re not going to let it. The thing about Baltimore is that we care for our own, absolutely.”

Hamilton has confirmed that although the threats and comments have persisted, she refuses to be bullied out of being an activist. She intends to continue uplifting the Baltimore community and doing literacy work for those in need.

Prince,filmmaker, netflix, documentary — (Photo: nicolas genin, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

by Mary Spiller

March 8, 2025

Filmmaker Ezra Edelman Speaks Out Against Netflix’s Decision To Cancel Prince Documentary

Edelman’s project was allegedly pulled back for editorial issues, not factual inaccuracies.

Filmmaker Ezra Edelman expressed his disappointment over his nine-hour Prince Netflix documentary on March 4 on the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast. He compared the lost project to Indiana Jones’ prized Ark of the Covenant.

Edelman said, “The image I’ve had in my head is the last shot of Raiders of the Lost Ark: of just a huge warehouse somewhere in Netflix, a crate just, like, put away.”

Edelman is no stranger to the documentary scene, winning an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature for his 2016 “O.J.: Made in America.”

The filmmaker described the nixed Prince documentary as something that would have given an honest picture of an entertainer that most friends would have been excited to see.

Edelman wanted to make a documentary that showed the “Purple Rain” singer’s humanity following his death in 2016.

The documentary included over 70 interviews with people around Prince. As described by New York Times Magazine Deputy Editor Sasha Weiss, the project tackled some of the abuse that Prince suffered in his relationships during his rise to infamy.

Edelman said, “I’m like, ‘This is a gift — a nine-hour treatment about an artist that was, by the way, f—ing brilliant.’ Everything about who you believe he is is in this movie. You get to bathe in his genius. And yet you also have to confront his humanity, which he, by the way, in some ways, was trapped in not being able to expose because he got trapped in his own myth about who he was to the world, and he had to maintain it.”

Weiss added, “Like most Americans who grew up in the 1980s, I had an image of Prince emblazoned in my mind: wonderfully strange; a gender-bending, dreamy master of funk.”

“Edelman’s film deepened those impressions, while at the same time removing Prince’s many veils. This creature of pure sex and mischief and silky ambiguity, I now saw, was also dark, vindictive, and sad. This artist who liberated so many could be pathologically controlled and controlling. The film is sometimes uncomfortable to watch. But then, always, there is relief: the miracle of Prince’s music.”

Edelman continued to explain what led to the Netflix documentary being pulled. He alleged that Prince’s estate checked the film for factual inaccuracies and allegedly found a “17-page document full of editorial issues — not factual issues” instead.

“You think I have any interest in putting out a film that is factually inaccurate?” Edelman said.

Oscar-winning director Ezra Edelman speaks for the first time about Netflix and Prince's estate mutually agreeing to not release his documentary.

"It's a joke. … I can't get past this — the short-sightedness of a group of people whose interest is their own bottom line. They're… pic.twitter.com/Q8xsIsuRsY
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) March 4, 2025

As reported by Entertainment Weekly, Edelman articulated, “The lawyer who runs the estate essentially said he believed that this would do generational harm to Prince.”

Edelman said this whole ordeal is ironic, considering Prince advocated for artistic freedom.

He said, “Prince was somebody who fought for artistic freedom, who didn’t want to be held down by Warner Bros., who he believed was stifling his output. I’m not Prince, but I worked really hard making something, and now my art’s being stifled and thrown away.”

Prince’s estate and Netflix released a joint statement to explain their reasoning for pulling Edelman’s documentary. The statement read, “The Prince Estate and Netflix have come to a mutual agreement that will allow the estate to develop and produce a new documentary featuring exclusive content from Prince’s archive. As a result, the Netflix documentary will not be released.”

suge, knight, request, denied — (Photo: Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

March 8, 2025

Suge Knight’s Attempt To Overturn 28-Year Sentence Deemed ‘Not Sincere,’ Request Denied

Knight will remain in prison after his attempt to overturn his 28-year sentence was denied.

Suge Knight’s bid to overturn his 28-year prison sentence in his hit-and-run manslaughter case has been denied.

Los Angeles County Judge Laura F. Priver “summarily denied” Knight’s request March 4, stating that it was both untimely and based on evidence deemed “not sincere,” Rolling Stone reports. The Death Row Records founder claimed his sentence was “illegally imposed.”

However, Judge Priver stated that Knight waited too long to file the writ of habeas corpus and also ruled that he lacked the grounds to support it. Knight filed his petition in March 2023, citing issues with his permanent prison housing, lack of assistance from his previous lawyer, the COVID-19 pandemic, and his blindness in one eye as obstacles. However, given the other motions Knight had been able to file, the judge was not persuaded by his argument.

“It is clear that the petitioner was not as isolated or as helpless to act as he wishes this court to believe. He was able to file the writ in a timely manner had he chosen to do so,” Priver wrote.

Knight’s longtime lawyer, David Kenner, has criticized the ruling and vowed to file an immediate writ of mandate with the appellate court, requesting a hearing on the underlying facts. He argues that Knight was entitled to an evidentiary hearing before any decision was made.

“I find this decision to be shocking and unconscionable,” Knight’s longtime lawyer David Kenner said. “I think the court has grossly erred in the decision it rendered. I think it is legally improper and the court did not follow the law.”

He continued. “She’s deciding herself that she believes the [district attorney] and disbelieves Mr. Knight. It’s a deprivation of every constitutional right he has, and that frankly is nothing new in his case. This case is the worst abuse of prosecutorial and judicial interference with the rights of the accused I’ve ever seen. He had less rights to be in contact with the lawyer of his choice than the people in Guantanamo Bay.”

Knight is currently serving a 28-year sentence in San Diego after pleading no contest to a voluntary manslaughter charge related to a 2015 fatal hit-and-run. The incident occurred at Tam’s Burgers in Compton, California, where local businessman Terry Carter lost his life.

Prosecutors argued that Knight was “angry” on the day of the hit-and-run after being turned away from a meeting earlier that day with Dr. Dre and Ice Cube regarding the movie “Straight Outta Compton.” The former record exec was reportedly seeking compensation for his portrayal in the film.

Initially, prosecutors charged Knight with murder, alleging he reversed his Ford Raptor truck, shifted gears intentionally, and hit the gas to run down Carter. Knight accepted a plea deal in September 2018 and has since claimed his public defender at the time forced him to. His attempt to overturn his sentence remains ongoing while he remains behind bars.

Steph Curry,warren buffett — Photo by: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

March 8, 2025

Steph Curry’s New Office Headquarters ‘Cements’ His Commitment To San Francisco

he NBA champion is relocating his 30 Ink collective.

New renderings showcase the 25,000-square-foot office and event space Stephen Curry is developing, highlighting his commitment to San Francisco and efforts to revitalize the city’s commercial real estate sector.

The NBA champion is relocating his 30 Ink collective to a new building at 600 20th St. in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood, the SF Chronicle reports. Newly revealed renderings showcase plans for a ground-up development to serve as the headquarters for Curry’s eight businesses and 13 entities.

The company plans to replace the existing 9,200-square-foot, two-story masonry and concrete building on the site with a five-story structure. The new building will feature a ground-floor community and event space and accommodate Curry’s 60-person team across his various companies.

It will include 2,680 square feet of lab space, nearly 9,000 square feet of office space, about 3,300 square feet for arts activities, and a three-bedroom unit on the fifth floor for out-of-town business partners. The plan also includes a roof deck and green roof space.

“This is a pivotal step for 30 Ink in terms of our evolution — it cements our commitment to be in the Bay Area and San Francisco specifically,” said Tiffany Williams, chief operating officer for 30 Ink.

“Stephen’s career is winding down — he has more years behind him than ahead of him — and we are saying that work doesn’t stop. We are going to be here and continue working and growing and elevating the under.”

The company, which focuses on athlete management, branding, lifestyle, impact, media, philanthropy, and technology, operates under the mantra “elevate the under.” After relocating its headquarters from Howard Street in the SoMa neighborhood to the Dogpatch district, Williams hopes the move will demonstrate Curry’s commitment to the Bay Area.

“We are not afraid to do work and build in San Francisco,” she said.

Williams also hopes the move inspires others to join in revitalizing San Francisco’s struggling office vacancy and commercial real estate development, which has largely stalled since the pandemic.

“We hope that attracts more businesses to seek out opportunities in the city,” she said.

Amazon, HBCU football classic — Photo by Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

by Sharelle B. McNair

March 8, 2025

Amazon Jumps On Board As Title Sponsor Of The Magic City Classic

Mayor Randall Woodfin calls the Classic 'the best thing happening in Birmingham.'

The Magic City Classic — the biggest HBCU football game of the season — has secured Amazon as its title sponsor, HBCU Gameday reports.

Magic City Classic and the online retail giant collaborated on a four-year deal, so the duel between Alabama A&M University and Alabama State University will be known as the Amazon Magic City Classic presented by Coca-Cola. In a statement released on March 6, Classic Executive Director Perren King says he looks forward to elevating the Magic City Classic experience. “This four-year partnership represents a shared commitment to education, diversity, and economic growth in our community,” King said.

“We look forward to working with Amazon to elevate the Classic experience for our fans and the broader HBCU family.”

With McDonald’s once being the title sponsor, the rivalry between the Bulldogs and the Hornets goes back 80 years as a staple of excitement for the city of Birmingham. Attendees can participate in a number of activities, including tailgates, festivals, and parades. It also results in economic prosperity for the schools and the other HBCUs in the state. In 2024, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) gave Alabama a grade of B for the “$1.4 billion — billion with a B — economic impact on an annual basis.”

Despite the economic outcome, there has been a push for more financial support for Alabama A&M and State. The Bulldogs signed an agreement to receive $1 million when designated as the home team and $300,000 when defined as visitors. The Hornets secured a four-year contract to receive $1.5 million when it is the home team.

With an additional $500,000 given to each school annually, both HBCUs will receive an average of $1.5 million over the next four years.

According to the Birmingham Times, city officials predict the Classic will generate $23 million for Birmingham as the game’s festivities, scheduled to kick off on Oct. 25, 2025, attract 65,000 attendees. An additional 60,000 are predicted for tailgating outside the stadium. Mayor Randall Woodfin thanked Amazon for coming on board to what he calls “the best thing happening in Birmingham.” Donetta Houser-Sly, HR Director of Amazon North America People Experience & Technology, says the company is “committed to ensure they are growing and developing.”

She described the game as bringing the community together and celebrating “the rich legacy of HBCUs, which have been pillars of academic excellence and leadership development for over 150 years.” “This historic game isn’t just about football — it’s about community, opportunity, and the endless possibilities that arise when tradition meets innovation,” Houser-Sly said.

Rodeo Houston, dress code — (Photo: Sean P. Twomey/Pexels)

by Mary Spiller

March 8, 2025

Rodeo Houston Celebrates Black Heritage Day With Event-Filled Weekend

The Houston Rodeo featured concerts, cheerleaders, marching bands, and more.

On March 7, the NRG Stadium was packed with occupants in celebration of Black Heritage Day at Rodeo Houston. The big event honored the continued contributions of African Americans to Western culture, highlighting the history and legacy of Black cowboys with activities and performances throughout the day.

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo kicked off with a musical concert performance.

Before the performance, the Rodeo Houston event paid tribute to two Black governmental figures: the late Houston mayor and U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner, as well as U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. Turner died suddenly earlier this week due to continuous health complications, and Lee died after a battle with cancer.

Black Heritage Day has been a tradition since the 1900s.

Vice President of HLSR Wendy Lewis Armstrong said, “It was just an idea that we needed to make sure that we tapped into the African-American culture.”

She continued, “To make sure that the rodeo understood the history and the legacy and the amazing things that the African-American community has done and continues to do in Western culture. So I think it’s twofold, one, to educate the rodeo folks who want to educate the community.”

According to KHOU 11, the Rodeo Houston events included cheerleaders, bands, choirs, and Black steppers. The marching band performances from historically Black colleges Prairie View A&M University and Texas Southern University played together for the very first time in their schools’ rich histories.

Following the excitement at the weekend Houston event, rodeo season will kick off, and attendance is expected to hit an all-time high over the course of the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, Rodeo Houston will showcase the culturally diverse heritage of the Wild West while visitors enjoy the weekend’s entertainment.

One attendant, Cardell Bey, traveled from Ohio for Rodeo Houston.

Bey said, “Black people got a big influence on country music, cowboys, and everything, and it’s good to see yourself represented in that way.”

Saint Augustine's Black Woman, Board — (Photo: Saint Augustine's University)

by Mitti Hicks

March 8, 2025

HBCU Saint Augustine’s University Loses Accreditation Appeal

In December 2022, the university was placed on probation after it failed to meet accreditation standards due to significant financial issue.

The Raleigh, North Carolina-based HBCU, Saint Augustine’s University, has lost its appeal to maintain accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The commission reaffirmed its decision to remove the institution from its membership, HBCU Gameday reports.

It’s been an uphill battle for SAU. In December 2022, the commission placed the university on probation after it failed to meet accreditation standards due to significant financial issues, including $32 million in debts and nearly $10 million in IRS tax liens.

The school received financial backing from 50 Plus 1 Sports, a Black-owned development company. As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, 50 Plus 1 Sports was willing to invest $70 million into the university, allowing it to be self-sufficient while keeping its land. The agreement prioritized eliminating debt and investing in campus improvements, all while ensuring that the university would become financially stable. The controversial deal with 50 Plus 1 Sports initially sought to lease all of SAU’s more than 100 acres of land. The attorney general’s office reportedly denied the deal over concerns about SAU’s nonprofit status.

However, university leaders previously told BE that they had little to no confidence that the state attorney general’s office would move forward with the deal since investors are now interested in taking over the university’s land, which was appraised for roughly $207 million in 2024. The North Carolina Attorney General’s Office did not reply to Black Enterprise’s request for comment.

With the latest setback, SAU leaders say the university is committed to ensuring that May 2025 graduates earn degrees from an accredited institution by pursuing a 90-day arbitration process.

“This decision does not define us—our resilience does,” said Interim President Dr. Marcus H. Burgess.

In the meantime, the university is fighting for its future and calling on alums, corporate partners, and the broader HBCU community for support.

“We now have the financial leverage to protect SAU’s legacy,” Trustee Hadley Evans told HBCU Gameday.

Keffe D, Good Morning America — (Photo:John Locher-Pool/Getty Images)

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

March 8, 2025

Accused Tupac Killer, Keffe D, Proclaims Innocence In First TV Interview Since Vegas Arrest

In a 'Good Morning America' interview, Keffe D emphatically says, 'I"m Innocent.'

Duane “Keffe D” Davis is preparing for his day in court in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur, but before facing a judge and jury, he took his plea to “Good Morning America.”

In a recent interview with the ABC news program, the suspect, who has been accused of being involved in the deadly shooting that took the life of Tupac, emphatically states that he is innocent of the charges prosecutors have levied against him in Las Vegas. The unsolved murder had been a mystery for almost three decades until the September 2023 arrest of Keffe D by the Las Vegas police. The only person charged in the “California Love” rapper’s killing is scheduled to go to trial later this year.

“I’m innocent,” he told the media outlet. “I ain’t killed nobody. Never did, never killed nobody.”

Keffe D has claimed that he was nowhere near the crime scene as he was in Los Angeles the night that Tupac was killed in a drive-by shooting.

He blames another person, a former police officer and bodyguard, Reggie White, Jr., who was reportedly driving the vehicle the night Tupac was killed. However, Wright denies killing the New York City-born rapper. Yet, prosecutors used Keffe D’s own words against him in the pursuit of finding Tupac’s killer.

Keffe D, who wrote the book, “Compton Street Legend,” and did many interviews over the years, initially said that the killing of the “Me Against the World” lyricist was done by his nephew, Orlando Anderson, who was killed two years later. However, prosecutors say they have strong evidence that Keffe incriminated himself in the book he wrote and released in 2019, as well as in interviews he has given to police and the media since 2008.

“I did not do it,” Davis, 61, said. “They don’t have nothing. And they know they don’t have nothing. They can’t even place me out here. They don’t have no gun, no car, no Keffe D, no nothing.”

The former gang member has been in jail at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas since his arrest on Sept. 29, 2023. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

Jimmy Butler Spike Lee — Jimmy Butler Gifts NBA Hall Of Famer Spike Lee His Shirt After Warriors' Win Over Knicks Right(Photo by Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)/Left(Photo by Miami Herald /Getty Images)

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

March 8, 2025

Jimmy Butler Gifts NBA Hall Of Famer Spike Lee His Shirt After Warriors’ Win Over Knicks

Jimmy Buckets gives the "Do the Right Thing' director his game-worn jersey after the game

New Golden State Warriors player Jimmy Butler recently gifted NBA Hall of Famer and “superfan” Spike Lee the shirt off his back after the game.

The former Heat forward, recently traded to the Warriors after a rocky tenure in Miami, faced the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on March 4. The team emerged victorious against the New York squad, 114-102. Right after the buzzer rang, signifying the end of the game, Butler headed over to Lee, and the basketball jersey he was wearing, sweat and all, was presented to the “Do the Right Thing” director.

While accepting the gift from the man known affectionately as “Jimmy Buckets,” the Heat player then placed his signature on the jersey as Lee is seen saying something in his ear. After signing the jersey, both men looked happy and embraced each other before they went their separate ways.

Jimmy showed some love to New York’s own! pic.twitter.com/jsMD00v5Hs

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) March 5, 2025

After leading the Miami team to two NBA Finals in five years, the 35-year-old guard’s relationship with the team became combative after the Heat were eliminated from last year’s playoffs. During his time with the team this season, he averaged 18 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 4.7 assists. His shooting percentage before the trade was at a career-high 55.3% from the field.

Butler was shipped from Miami when the Warriors traded him for Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, and a top-10 protected first-round draft pick for 2025. The Warriors also sent Dennis Schroder to the Utah Jazz and received, in return, P.J. Tucker, who is going back after being a member of the Heat in 2021-22. The Warriors also sent Lindy Waters III to the Detroit Pistons, and the Heat shipped Josh Richardson off to the Pistons.

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